Over the years, some tremendously distinctive radio personalities have made a living in Twin Cities radio. Today, one of them died.

Dark Star, longtime host at WCCO, was found dead in his home today, according to KFAN. He was 66. His real name was George Chapple.

“I stole every second I was ever on the air,” he told the Star Tribune in 2010, after accepting a buyout offer at WCCO. “I had the time of my life. It was a lot of fun.”

For Twin Cities sports fans, it wasn’t unusual to go to a sporting event, then listen to Dark Star on the drive home to see if he saw the game the way you did.

His passion was the ponies. He was a fixture at Canterbury Park and started his media career around here by handicapping horses for the Pioneer Press. It’s a gig he started in Los Angeles, colleague Cathy Wurzer tweeted this afternoon. He took his name from a longshot 1953 Kentucky Derby winner when he was handicapping at a newspaper in L.A., and he didn’t want his brokerage bosses to know, she said.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the ’90s, ran MPR’s political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories.

Dark Star was a interesting radio personality. He was just the right guy for his audience, working those late hours at WCCO where the weirdo night owls would come out. I wish he would have taken better care of himself. Utilizing valet parking all the time and smoking at his age is obviously unhealthy and they sad thing is I think he knew. I’ll remember him for his way of making young people feel young, and how fortunate they are to be young, because he constantly said the phrase “young people” or had some kind of reference to “old guys like me.” Maybe he had the plan of living it big until 66 instead of living conservatively until 86. Only Dark knows.